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| Restoring Neal Creek Helps Fish and the Economy |
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March 18, 2009
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Improvement of Neal Creek Continues After Pipeline
Hood River, OR—The Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) has granted the Hood River Soil Water and Conservation District (SWCD) nearly $50,000 to decommission a forest service road.
Not far from Hood River, a washed-out forest road that runs along Neal Creek will be removed for the benefit of fish, downstream landowners, and the economy. "We're excited. It's not a huge amount of money, but we've wanted to decommission this forest road since the 1996 floods washed it out. We just needed to complete the larger $10.5 million Central Canal Pipeline project first. And as of last fall, that's been done," said Anne Saxby, District Manager of the Hood River Soil Water and Conservation District (Hood River SWCD). That three-phase project installed 4.3 miles of pipe to replace Neal Creek as the conveyance system for irrigation water from the East Fork Hood River.
No longer will 3,700 tons of glacial silt, enough to fill nearly 100 school buses each year, be carried into Neal Creek, an important steelhead spawning stream. Now that Neal Creek’s original flows have been returned, the Hood River SWCD plans to restore sections of the creek that parallel this abandoned forest road. "Nothing grows where the road used to be due to soil compaction. In addition, the old road bed constrains stream flow which increases flooding impacts downstream in high flow periods. By removing the road, the stream will have more room to move and dissipate energy. This is a huge improvement. We'll be creating better habitat for fish such as winter steelhead, we'll be protecting property and helping people downstream, and we'll be hiring people from the local community to do the work. They live here, they shop here. The money they earn stays in the area," said Anne Saxby, District Manager of the Hood River SWCD.
Work removing the road will begin this summer. Hood River SWCD will use OWEB funds to contract local workers to restore approximately two miles of stream and remove 9,000 feet of road. They'll place approximately 80 pieces of large wood into the stream, which helps to slow its flow. And they'll plant over 4,400 conifers along the stream, helping it return to its natural condition. Other partners include the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Oregon Department of Forestry and the Hood River County Forestry Department.
At the March 2009 OWEB Board Meeting held in Salem, the Board voted to support over 100 projects, an investment of over $10 million across the state. According to the University of Oregon's Ecosystem Workforce Program (EWP), these projects have considerable economic impact and job creation potential in addition to their environmental benefits. Every dollar invested in watershed restoration multiplies through the economy and helps sustain local communities. The EWP analysis concludes that the average impact of each $1 million invested by OWEB results in 15 jobs and an additional $1.86 million in total economic activity that stays in Oregon. Examples of these projects in other regions follow.
On a tributary of the Umpqua, the Partnership for Umpqua Rivers will receive funds to contract a helicopter and crew to place 120 trees along two miles of a creek. These restoration workers will purchase goods and services from the community.
Along the coast, the MidCoast Watersheds Council will contract with local workers to restore three miles of a tributary of the Alsea River. They will plant 13,600 trees, install 8,399 feet of fencing to keep livestock out of the creek, place 162 large logs in the creek to simulate log jams, and replace two culverts.
In the Willamette Valley, The Nature Conservancy will employ local contractors and nurseries to restore some of the rarest ecosystems in Oregon, native prairies. Much of the work is living wage kind of jobs: heavy equipment operators, logging, weed spraying that in turn helps drive demand for the production of durable goods like bobcat tractors and chainsaws. This work also supports rural economies, including the nursery industry that has been especially hit by the drop in home construction.
The Wheeler Soil Water and Conservation District (Wheeler SWCD) will receive funding for the second phase of the Middle John Day / North Fork restoration project. The majority of OWEB funding will go directly for project management and on-the-job engineers. "All of the contractors that we hired to do this work are from Central Oregon and a lot of the money they earn goes right back in to their communities. In addition, 75% of the materials used for these projects come from Oregon," according to Gabe Williams, Project Manager at the Wheeler SWCD.
The Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) administers a grant program funded from the Oregon Lottery as a result of a citizen initiative in 1998. These funds will support the capacity of local citizen groups to carry out a variety of restoration projects; promote understanding of watershed needs; provide technical skills to those working to restore urban and rural watersheds; and monitor the effectiveness of these investments. OWEB fosters collaboration and partners with citizens, local governments, state and federal agencies, tribes, and industries. For more information, visit the OWEB Web site at www.oregon.gov/OWEB.
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